Roger Smith, top center, in a TV Guide cover featuring the cast of 77 Sunset Strip
Roger Smith, who starred with Efrem Zimbalist Jr. in 77 Sunset Strip, has died at 84, according to Variety.
The 1958-64 series was an early hit for ABC. Warner Bros., which produced the TV series, quickly launched other private eye shows.
77 Sunset Strip was part of an “extended universe” decades before the term was coined.
Other shows part of that universe included Hawaiian Eye (with Anthony Eisley and Robert Conrad), Bourbon Street Beat (with Richard Long and Andrew Duggan) and Surfside 6 (with Troy Donahue and Van Williams).
All of the shows featured snappy theme songs by Mack David and Jerry Livingston.
Smith was fired with most of the 77 Sunset Strip cast following the show’s fifth season. Only Efrem Zimbalist Jr. remained as Jack Webb and William Conrad revamped the show, turning Zimbalist’s Stuart Bailey into a lone-wolf PI. The experiment didn’t last the 1963-64 season.
Smith married actress Victoria Shaw in 1956, but the couple divorced in 1965, according to a biography on IMDB.COM. In 1967, Smith married Ann-Margaret. He gave up acting and managed her career.
One of his final public appearances was with Ann-Margaret for the premiere of the 2017 movie Going In Style.
Filed under: The Other Spies | Tagged: 77 Sunset Strip, Ann-Margaret, Bourbon Street Beat, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Going In Style, Hawaiian Eye, Jack Webb, Roger Smith, Surfside 6, Warner Bros., William Conrad |
The Spy Command 
He was cast as Lon Chaney Jr in “Man of a Thousand Faces”. I always thought that was odd casting as Roger looked nothing like Lon Jr.